Browse the whole archive

Public record: dancehall artist Beenie Man (Moses Davis) faced Jamaican tax proceedings over assessed unpaid taxes and penalties, and the matter was resolved when a judge dismissed the case, ruling the assessment procedure had not properly observed his rights (NME; Billboard). Starter record pending editorial and legal review.

Rodney Pryce, the deejay Bounty Killer, faced several criminal charges in this period, none of which resulted in a conviction. A 2009 assault charge was dropped when the complainant withdrew. In 2010 the Corporate Area Resident Magistrate's Court freed him on an assault-occasioning-bodily-harm charge after the complainant told the court she did not wish to proceed and the judge ordered mediation. Charges of illegal possession of a firearm, common assault and unlawful wounding, arising from a September 2007 incident in New Kingston, were withdrawn in 2012 after a senior officer's statement contradicted the complainant's.

Public record: on 14 May 2015 U.S. federal prosecutors in the Middle District of Florida moved to dismiss the firearms count associated with Buju Banton's (Mark Myrie's) drug case, a distinct disposition from the cocaine-conspiracy conviction on which he served his sentence (U.S. Department of Justice press release). Starter record pending editorial and legal review.

Public-record timeline node for Buju Banton's U.S. conviction, imprisonment and December 2018 release; use only official/major-press facts and avoid speculative claims.

Ackeme Campbell, the deejay Chronic Law, was charged in July 2026 with possession of a firearm by a prohibited person, on a complaint arising from a November 2025 traffic stop in Turner County, Georgia, in which officers say firearms and ammunition were recovered after a high-speed pursuit. He was arrested in Miami on 5 July 2026 and ordered detained without bond at his first appearance on 9 July. Separately, he had been held in ICE custody from January 2026 and released without charge that March. This matter is pending: he has not been tried or convicted, and the allegations are untested. The Atlas will record the outcome when there is one.

A defamation claim filed in the Supreme Court of Jamaica on 12 June 2024 by the ska singer Derrick Morgan against his daughter, the reggae singer Queen Ifrica (Ventrice Morgan). The claim concerns allegations she made publicly in social-media videos and interviews in August 2023 about an incident at his Kingston home; Morgan says the allegations are false and defamatory and seeks damages for the harm to his reputation. Queen Ifrica has said her own experience of abuse informed her 2009 song "Daddy Don't Touch Me There". She was served in October 2024; the matter moved through case management during 2025, and in July 2026 a Supreme Court judge fast-tracked it with a pre-trial hearing set for 11 December. The Atlas records the procedural history from published reporting only. Nothing here is a finding about the underlying allegations, which remain untested in court and are denied.

O'Neil Bryan, the deejay Elephant Man, was charged with rape, buggery and grievous sexual assault after a complaint about an incident at his St Andrew home in January 2012. The case reached the Home Circuit Court in February 2016, where the prosecution offered no evidence: the complainant had died and her written statement was not admissible. Justice Marcia Dunbar Green directed the jury to return a formal verdict of not guilty. The allegations were never tested at trial and Bryan stands acquitted.

Siccature Alcock, the singer Jah Cure, stabbed concert promoter Nicardo "Papa" Blake on Dam Square in Amsterdam in October 2021, in a dispute over payment for a show. A Dutch court convicted him of attempted manslaughter in March 2022 and sentenced him to six years, acquitting him of attempted murder. Prosecutors appealed; in October 2025 the Amsterdam Court of Appeal upgraded the conviction to attempted murder and raised the sentence to eight years and four months, citing voice messages sent before the attack as evidence of intent. The complainant survived.

Public-record node for the singer Jah Cure's 1999 conviction and 2007 release in Jamaica — a documented career interruption during which he recorded and released music. Framed on the public record without sensational detail. Starter record pending editorial/legal review.

Okeefe Aarons, the deejay Laden, was convicted in December 2020 of illegal possession of a firearm and ammunition after an October 2020 police chase in Cheapside, St Elizabeth, in which a firearm was thrown from the vehicle he was travelling in. He received four years for the firearm and 18 months for the ammunition, to run concurrently, and was released in April 2023 after serving about 30 months.

Public record: on 20 November 2017 dancehall artist Ninjaman (Desmond Ballentyne), his son and a co-accused were found guilty in the Home Circuit Court of the 2009 murder of Ricardo Johnson; in December 2017 he was sentenced to life imprisonment with eligibility for parole after 25 years, and an appeal remains before the Court of Appeal as of 2025 (Jamaica Gleaner). Starter record pending editorial and legal review.

Andrae Whittaker, the deejay Squash, was arrested after a February 2025 traffic stop in Miami in which a modified pistol was recovered from the vehicle he was travelling in. He pleaded guilty to possessing a firearm and was sentenced in November 2025 to two years and three months in US federal prison. Reporting indicates he faces deportation proceedings on release. He had previously been detained by ICE in 2023 and released on bond. US authorities have alleged he entered the country illegally in 2021; that immigration question is separate from the firearm conviction and should not be conflated with it.

Public record: in March 2021 dancehall artist Tommy Lee Sparta (Leroy Russell) was sentenced in the Gun Court to three years for illegal possession of a firearm and a concurrent term for ammunition following a December 2020 arrest, and he was released after completing the sentence in 2023 (Jamaica Gleaner; Jamaica Observer). Starter record pending editorial and legal review.

Public record: on 24 July 2013 Adidja 'Vybz Kartel' Palmer was found not guilty of the murder of Barrington Burton in the Home Circuit Court, an outcome distinct from the later Clive Williams case (Jamaica Gleaner case timeline). Starter record pending editorial and legal review.

Public-record node for the July 31, 2024 Jamaica Court of Appeal decision declining a retrial after the Privy Council ruling; source official judgment/press summary before public display.